Why do we deal treacherously with one another? This is the question posed by the prophet in Malachi 2:10. This is worthy of consideration now, just as it was in Israel. Why are deceit, division, and degrading words so common among us? The Bible indicates these problems have a common origin and can fester if left uncorrected.
Treachery Grows When We Forget the God Who Created All (Malachi 2:10)
The one thing that binds us together is Christ. It is a bond that transcends all familial, ethnic, racial, and national lines. The divisions that are present in our lost state are broken down in our saved state. Galatians 3:28 reminds us of our common salvation in Christ, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Moreover, the Ephesian letter reads,
For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
(Eph 2:14-16)
God’s goodness is seen more fully in the fact that God made peace between Himself and sinful man, and also brought peace between the subdivisions of all men.
However, Malachi gave us an idea of the problem of division in his day. Israelites were defrauding other Israelites. He appealed to their commonality. They had the same Father and Creator, but regardless of this great bond, they dealt treacherously with one another. This word may be unfamiliar to us. The Hebrew word niḇgaḏ ( נִבְגַּד֙) describes the idea of concealing, as with a garment. It is a hidden deceit that hurts a brother. All Israelites, regardless of tribe, shared a common ancestor in Jacob (Israel), and they had to be reminded of what bound them together. Their disregard for the covenant was deemed treacherous by God, and it had serious consequences.
Treachery Grows When We Neglect His Institutions (Malachi 2:11-16)
When men fail to keep the covenant with God, they will neglect the covenant with one another. When the men of Israel broke their covenant by marrying the daughters of a foreign god, they were profaning His sanctuary. This problem was not new; there were reforms during the era of Ezra, but the people had apparently returned to this sin. When God declares they are profaning His sanctuary, He is declaring that they have profaned His holy people, whom He fathered through His covenant with them. Close relationships with idolaters had long been a snare for God’s people; 24,000 died of a plague at Baal-peor (cf. Numbers 25:1-18). Solomon loved many foreign women and he succumbed to appeasing their gods (cf. 1 Kings 11:1-13). Previously, God forbade marriage between His people and the peoples of the land because He knew their hearts would flee from Him. He knew that the result would be the same treacherous dealings with each other. The people's response was to weep before the altar because God refused to show them favor when they brought their sacrifices. The people of Israel were convinced that they could offer unclean sacrifices and not keep their vows both to God and their countrymen and their spouses, and still be okay with God. The Lord Himself was a witness between the unfaithful men and their brides. God is the witness. He was there when they were married. His people entered into a covenant with God and their spouse. God is testifying for the wives who have been dealt treacherously with. These women did not have a whole lot of clout in society; it was easy for them to get looked over or pushed to the side. But God the Father looked out for the abused. The Psalmist writes in Psalm 34:19, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”
Malachi summarizes the reason for all the problems that the Jews were facing in verse 16. The Lord God declared His hatred for divorce. He compared it to covering one's garment with wrong, but it's more than wrong; it's violence. Truly, these men who were divorcing the wives of their youth to chase after worshipers of idols were committing domestic violence, perhaps not in the modern definition, but certainly in Jehovah’s definition. They had brought judgment on their houses and on their nation by being unfaithful. The Law in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 permitted divorce if some indecency was found in a man’s wife. Let me be clear–there is no indecency found in the wives described in Malachi; these indecent men betrayed their wives, their brothers, and their God by seeking indecent wives.
Treachery Grows When We Tolerate What Wearies God (Malachi 2:17)
The Israelites’ tolerance of this treachery wearied God. Once again, the Lord presented these people as asking why God was expressing His exhaustion with them. God was very clear. They had let their tolerance for evil override their conscience. These words ought to be sobering to us. They were charged with saying (even if only by action or attitude) that everyone who does evil is good in God’s eyes. They acted as though those unholy and unauthorized worshipers were not offensive to God. To make matters worse, they questioned the justice of God. This is the attitude of the treacherous. They commit abomination and then hurl charges against the Righteous One.
What can we learn from this today? We must remember our bond in Christ is inseparable from our obedient love of Him. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). If we are to keep this commandment, we must love one another. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7). When we truly commit to this love, we will have the only antidote to treachery toward our covenant with God and one another.
